Yuja Wang: You’re only as good as…

Yuja Wang: You’re only as good as…

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norman lebrecht

August 16, 2018

This Vogue promo is paid for by a wristwatch.

Comments

  • Petros Linardos says:

    More important than that:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrOxzR5VvYk

    Maybe she should play and conduct the CBSO to get better coverage here.

  • Georges Sand says:

    Where’s YOUR Rolex ad, Mr. Lebrecht? Surely you can pull out some outfit where you’d look sexy in such an ad? No? And since you kinda sorta play the piano, where’s YOUR Curtis degree? Such sexism (in the comments) is woefully out of date.

  • CYM says:

    Incredible talent, Yuja, but considering her usual revealing concert outfits, she risks being on a watch list …

    • mephistopheles says:

      She *is* on a watch list. My own private watch list.

      And yes, her playing is stunning. Just listened to her Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Amazing.

  • Furzwängler says:

    Stop bullying her. She’s cute!

  • Furzwängler says:

    And she can come and play my Bösendorfer any time.

  • Furzwängler says:

    Moreover she can come and play on my Bösendorfer any time.

  • M McAlpine says:

    Nothing wrong with this. Unless anyone is jealous they don’t get an ad sponsored by Rolex. But at least we can see the lass has got talent to burn!

  • V.Lind says:

    I’ve never understood the animus against Yuja on this site. It takes sides, and gets spiteful toward those it has deemed unworthy, from Dudamel to Lang Lang to Katherine Jenkins, while perhaps overpraising favourites from Mirga to the French singer Barbara. Does it have anything to do with interviews given? Whatever, the anti-Yuja slant seems particularly misguided.

  • barry guerrero says:

    Hold on. Norman didn’t say a thing. He simply copied what Yuja said herself: “you’re only as good as your next performance” (something like that). The worst you can accuse of him of is ‘click bait’.

    • Pja says:

      Perhaps it is the inevitable un-funny, innuendo-laden, comments from the past-sell-by-dated rabble who share their wisdom on these subjects.

      • mephistopheles says:

        How sour and humourless someone is this morning.

        • Pja says:

          You’re probably right. And a dose of sexist humour on this site really failed to improve it. Yuja Wang, Katherine Jenkins, and the other lynch targets bring out the worst from commentators on this site.

  • Mikko says:

    Just an aside: they went a bit far with the photoshopping of her waistline in that picture with the black dress. Looks like she’s squeezed with a Chinese torture corset or something.

  • Furzwängler says:

    Speaking of young(ish) pianists, did anyone attend on the 13th (or hear re-broadcast on the 17th) the concert at the BBC Proms? A very interesting symphony by Arvo Pärt and, to close the evening, a fine performance of Sibelius’ 5th. In between?

    Well, Katia Buniatishvili played – or drove us through – Grieg’s piano concerto. The first two movements I thought were just about okay-ish – some fistfuls of clangers but hell who cares about those? Horowwitz could do those too.

    What was dreadful though IMHO was the Finale : here our Katia played the jolly folk dance at a speead that sounded more like all the crazed trolls of Norway rushing headlong into a mountain. Perhaps she was trying to “do a Cziffra”. Except that Cziffra knew exactly when to pile on the pace, and when not to, having been an immeasurably greater pianist than Buniatishvili will ever be.

    Just my take on that performance. Interesting that Cziffra’s own (only, I believe) recording of the Grieg concerto takes the Finale at a considerably slower (and more musical) pace.

    Apologies for the sidetrack! I just wonder if anyone else heard it?

    • Furzwängler says:

      P.S. The above is written, of course, as a comparison of an incredibly talented pianist like Yuja Wang with a – frankly not remotely as talented – piano player.

    • Tony Sanderson says:

      In her pre-concert interview Khatia said she likes to take risks.

      Yuja Wang is playing the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 at the BBC Proms on 1st September with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kyril Petrenko live on BBC Radio 3.

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